1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved chenille woven or knitted fabric provided with a surface which is covered with ultra-fine synthetic fibers having silk-like touch and luster, and a process for the production thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Chenille woven or knitted fabric composed of silk is ranked as one of the higher grades of such fabrics. This fabric is excellent in touch, luster, and other points and, thus, is highly valued as a high-grade clothing material. On the other hand, this fabric is defective in that fibers are removed and worn away during wearing, the fastness to wet rubbing is poor, and shrinkage upon washing is great. Furthermore, this fabric has a defect inherent to natural fibers, that is, a great deviation of properties among fibers. The yield of fiber consumption in the production is therefore very low and, accordingly, the fabric is very expensive.
Chenille woven or knitted fabrics composed of synthetic fibers on the present market are mainly composed of acrylic fibers or a blend of acrylic and cotton fibers. Such a fabric, however, is defective in various points. For example, the surface touch is coarse and hard, the drapability of the fabric as a whole is insufficient, the dimensional change due to shrinkage upon washing is great, and the fabric readily becomes shiny upon ironing.
There has recently been much research carried out to develop a method and apparatus to produce chenille yarn. Such research, however, did not solve the subject matter of how to produce chenille fabric having high quality. Examples of such research are shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 56-63069, which proposes the utilization of a so-called sea-and-island composite filament yarn so as to create very fine raised fibers, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 53-6642, which discloses an apparatus and method for producing a fancy yarn, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,881, which discloses an apparatus for producing chenille yarn. However, as obvious, these prior arts only disclose a method and apparatus for producing chenille yarn.